Writing and Selling the YA Novel by K. L. Going

our minds. They can be infuriating or painful. They can leave you hanging, asking yourself more questions than when you began. But there must always be some acknowledgment of where you began when you end. Not a literal stated acknowledgment, but a sense of a journey taken and fulfilled.
    Plots have beginnings, middles, and ends, and endings are what you leave your readers with, so it's important to ask yourself how you want to affect them. Even if you want to leave your readers yearning for more, you still need to give them some sense of completion.
    Try mapping out your novel on paper. Write down each of your main characters and chart the journey that character makes. Does each character arc have a beginning, middle, and end? Does each character change in some way? Do they accomplish the purpose you set for them? Or did you leave them hanging?
    Do the same thing for each theme or conflict you introduce. Which themes are present from the beginning to the end of your novel? Are any of them abandoned midway through? Which conflicts are resolved and which ones are left unresolved? Were your choices realistic?
    Resolution is an important part of any plot. The ending of your book is the last thing a reader will think about before he's done reading. Spending the extra time to make sure you've gotten everything right will allow your book to be remembered for all the right reasons instead of all the wrong ones.

    Now that you know the basics on which a plot hinges, it's time to get down to the nuts and bolts. When you're sitting in front of a blank computer screen, how do you begin to organize events so there's plenty of conflict, a satisfying resolution, and enough credibility for your readers? You've got the idea and you've got the characters, but you need the structure.
    How will you tell the story? Will you tell it in a linear fashion where events unfold as they would in real life? Maybe you'll want to use flashbacks. Should you reveal everything from the start or should you hide key pieces of information to be parceled out as the story moves along? Gould you open from the point of view of the bad guy and then switch to that of the good guy later on or should your point of view remain consistent?
    Each of these decisions is dependent on the type of story you're telling and your strengths as a writer. Young adult is a broad category, and different genres within the boundary of YA fiction have different styles of writing associated with them. You'll want to be aware of what those styles are in case you want to use them. For example, it's common for fantasy novels to open with a scene featuring the villain. Mysteries are usually dependent on the author keeping certain information hidden from the reader. Romance is commonly written from multiple points of view.
    But for every rule there are exceptions, and being aware of how other authors have organized their plots does not mean you have to make the same choices. Instead, assume that common formats are used precisely because they work well for that style of book, but balance this against how you want to tell the story and what you know your strengths and weaknesses to be. Maybe you can never get flashbacks
    right or crawling into the head of a villain always ends up sounding false when you attempt it. Deciding how to organize your plot should come from the story itself and shouldn't be forced.
    Ask yourself the following questions to help you decide what form your plot should take:
    • Who is telling the story and what are her motives?
    • What kind of mood would you like to create?
    • How fast should the pace of the book be?
    • Is any aspect of the story dependent on a need for secrecy?
    • How important is your antagonist?
    • How much time passes from beginning to end?
    • Do you need to accommodate multiple points of view?
    As you answer these questions, you can begin to determine what format is right for your story. Linear forms lend themselves to fast pacing.